When the Holy See gave general permission for Catholics to study again at Oxford and Cambridge, the stipulation was made that lectures be offered to provide support for their faith, as Catholics would be a minority in a rather hostile atmosphere. In the days when C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien trod the greens of Oxford, those lectures were provided by the wise and witty Msgr. Ronald Knox, himself a convert to the Catholic Church.

Erudite and profound, Monsignor Knox not only helped keep the Catholic students aflame with faith, but also led many lapsed Catholics and non-Catholics into the Church. His writings continue to provide inspiration and instruction to all those confronting questions of life and faith.

Some of the best talks by Knox are gathered in this volume. "If God Exists", "The Unholiness of the Church" and "Unselfishness in Marriage" are but a few of the topics he deftly discussed in a manner as entertaining and pertinent now as when they were first given at Oxford in the 1920s and 1930s.

"In what Msgr. Knox calls the ‘4 a.m.’ mood, a sense of futility creeps in, a suspicion that the Christian system does not really hang together, that there are flaws in the logic . . . that there are too many unresolved contradictions. To this mood with its temptation to despair, Msgr. Knox talks with unfailing kindness . . . Those who have left their formal education far behind them will find huge solace in reading and re-reading this book. It should be at every bedside, ready to be opened at 4 a.m."– Evelyn Waugh, Author, Brideshead Revisited

“Knox, the most learned, influential priest convert in the England of his time, brings his keen intellect and penetrating spirited insights to his new Catholic home with a breathtaking forcefulness."—Fr. Charles Connor, Author,Classic Catholic Converts

The Cross-word of Creation
"Mind" and "Matter"
If God Exists-
White-Washing Caliban
Under Pontius Pilate
The Claim
Early in the Morning
Egyptian Enchantments
The Living Witness
The Unholiness of the Church
Wheat in the Cockle
Faith Lost and Found
The Unconscious Catholic
Into all Truth
The Key ManVerbumCaroFactumEst
Et Habitavit In Nobis
Immorality
The Church and Human Progress
The Three Moralities
Morality and Convention
Cutting the Knot
Unselfishness in Marriage
The Torch Handed On